Updated | 11:15 a.m.
PROVIDENCE – Network infrastructure firm VeriSign Inc. announced this week that Atlanta-based SecureWorks Inc. has bought the company’s managed security services division, which has offices and an operations center in Providence.
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The division includes what was formerly the Providence-based company Guardent, which VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN) acquired in 2003 for $140 million in cash and stock. The SecureWorks deal is expected to be finalized by the end of next month, VeriSign said in a regulatory filing.
Elizabeth Clarke, a spokeswoman for SecureWorks, told Providence Business News today that the company is not expecting to move VeriSign’s Providence offices. “The plan right now is to maintain the operations in Providence,” she said.
Clarke said more information would be released once the deal is finalized.
Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign did not disclose the sale price. But the Atlanta Business Chronicle, citing a source familiar with the deal, reported that privately-held SecureWorks will pay between $40 million and $50 million for the unit, which the paper said has been on the market since December 2007.
John Pescatore, an analyst with the IT research firm Gartner, told the Atlanta paper that the roughly $45 million selling price was reasonable based on the VeriSign unit’s growth potential.
Guardent was the fastest-growing company in the region prior to its sale in 2003, with $21 million in revenue the prior year, according to Providence Business News research. VeriSign has kept Guardent’s offices in Providence and Waltham, Mass., as well as the Guardent’s security operations center in Providence.
